Convair NB-36H Crusader: Who’s a Good Atom Boy?

The Crusader was a drastically modified Peacemaker employed as a flying testbed for an airbone nuclear reactor. First flown in Sept. 1955, the idea was not to use the reactor as a source of power, but to test the effects of radiation on the aircraft itself and on its crew. This project was pursued in connection with the spellbinding WS-125A nuclear-powered bomber program. A total of forty-seven flights were undertaken in less than a year and the Crusader was scrapped soon after.

The unusual cartoon-esque shape of the NH-36H nose under construction. The shielded crew compartment is already in place waiting for its aerodynamic cover.

Mitsubishi (2MR1) Tobi: Not all Falcons are handsome.

This lanky artifact was Mitsubishi competitor to replace in 1926 the Army locally-built Salmson 2 A2 recon aircraft. The 2MR1 was designed by Nobushiro Nakata with with the help of Professor Baumann. Of mixed construction, the Tobi (a sort of falcon) was powered by a 450-600hp Mitsubishi (Hispano-Suiza) engine. Its sesquiplane configuration consisted on a quite large upper wing mounted way up high connected through a bizarre array of centre section and interplane struts to the boxy fuselage and lower wings.
The Tobi prototype made its maiden flight in the summer of 1927. Factory tests were very positive with a top speed well above the requirements. Sadly, during the official test flights the prototype was seriously damaged on a heavy landing and was eliminated from the competition.

They also knew how to make pretty ones.

Albatros Dr.I: It didn’t add up.

The Dr.I was the very pragmatic way the Albatros Flugzeugwerke tested the qualities of the Triplane configuration in the middle of the craziness. They just took one of their D.V and replaced its two wings with three and compared it with the standard D.V. That’s it. The results were negligible; no production followed.

What an awfully uninspired wing structure. A real sin.

Mikoyan MiG-23 (23-11/1): Show Business.

The MiG-23 1st prototype put through its paces while displaying its “airshow” bright red painted outer wings. A livery it wore on its public debut at the Moscow-Domedovo Airshow, July 9, 1967.

Gimme that Dart.

Nennig C.3: As fast as it went.

This sharp looking racer was conceived by Edmond Nennig to take part in the classic 1935 Coupé Deutsch de la Meurthe race. Originally designed to be powered by a Salmson 12 engine it ended with a Régnier 6 cylinder. Not completed in time to take part in the competition, the later whereabouts of Nennig C.3 are obscure. It seems it was never flown.

The last design iteration of the C.3 in this lovely model inside the wind tunnel of the University of Lille, Shades of…

Martin 167W (XA-22): Loser of my heart.

The Martin 167W was designed to meet a 1938 US. Army Air Corps requirement for an attack-bomber. First flown in early 1939 under the XA-22 denomination, this slick aircraft failed to win an American production order. They ordered the DB-7 instead. Despite that, following its tests, the design was offered for export. It was soon taken out by the endangered French. Relatively few arrived before the 1940 surrender, but they proved to be very handy assets. The rest of the French orders were taken by the British who named it the “Maryland”. The RAF and the South African AF used them with considerable success in the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

The single XA-22 prototype displaying all its magnificence.

Myasishchev M-17 Stratosphera: Resting Places (XXXV).

The M-17 was a sort of Soviet “U-2” employed as a civilian earth resources experimental aircraft. That was the end result, but its origins are more interesting. Believe it or not, this design started as the Subject 34, a high-altitude interceptor to counter the reconnaissance balloon used over the USSR by the US. That 1950s/60s spy program was long cancelled when the Subject 34 prototype made first flight in 1978. No problem, the design got rid of its intended gun and air-to-air missiles armament and left the military. Two conveniently modified M-17 were produced. They achieved a nice bunch of speed, altitude and rate of climb world records, a few of which still stand.

The bucolic end of the prototype (CCCP 17401) at the Monino AF Museum. Russians lovely derelicts.

Curtiss PN-1: A sincere form of flattery.

This Curtiss fighter of 1920 was built to cover a USAS Engineering Division requirement for a night fighter (P-ursuit N-ight). Clearly inspired in the German Fokker D.VII, the PN-1 employed a similar construction structure and was powered by the very German-looking 230hp Liberty 6 inline engine – a sort of half-Liberty 12V. The only of the two built which flew took its maiden flight in 1921, Uninspiring performances prevented further development and the contract was cancelled.

That biplane configuration couldn’t be more “Fokker’s”. In fact, like the D.VII the PN-1 was built as a full-cantilever biplane, but those interplane struts were added before delivery.

Photo: William F. Yeager Collection.

Plymouth A-A-2004: Magnus-fic.

This 1930 contraction was built to explore Anton Flettner’s rotors and the Magnus effect. So three rotating cylinders replaced this seaplane wings. The A-A-2004 was powered by a 300hp Wright J6 for flight and a 90hp American Cirrus ACE to spin its “drums”. Mystery evolves its fate; some sources said it flew, others it didn’t. It works anyway.

Pretty cool and informative drawing from the Popular Science Monthly magazine, Nov. 1930.

Sukhoi S-26-2: Look, Ma !!!

The pair of S-26s built in 1963 were a further iteration of the soft-field performance tests undertook by the Sukhoi OKB with their Su-7. Unlike the previous S-23, these prototypes used a combination of wheel/ski undercarriage instead of the former’s ski-only landing gear. A double brake parachute (the S-26-1 only) and JATO boosters were also tried.

Soviet ruggedness to the T. This prototype survives at the monumental Monino AF Museum.